The Day After Trinity

Synopsis

The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the theoretical physicist who led the effort to build the first atomic bomb, tested in July 1945 at Trinity site in New Mexico. It features interviews with several Manhattan Project scientists, as well as newly declassified archival footage.

The film's title comes from an interview seen near the conclusion of the documentary. Robert Oppenheimer is asked for his thoughts on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's efforts to urge President Lyndon Johnson to initiate talks to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. "It's 20 years too late," Oppenheimer replies. After a pause, he states, "It should have been done the day after Trinity."

Interviewees

:In order of first appearance

• Haakon Chevalier – writer, friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Hans Bethe – Los Alamos physicist, Nobel laureate in physics
• Francis Fergusson – writer, friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Robert Serber – physicist, Los Alamos
• Robert Wilson – physicist, Los Alamos
• Frank Oppenheimer – physicist, Los Alamos, brother of Robert Oppenheimer
• I.I. Rabi – Manhattan Project physicist, Nobel laureate
• Freeman Dyson – physicist, Institute for Advanced Study
• Stirling Colgate – physicist, Los Alamos
• Stan Ulam – mathematician, Los Alamos
• Robert Porton – G.I., at Los Alamos during World War II
• Françoise Ulam – writer, wife of Stanislaw Ulam
• Dorothy McKibbin – former head, Manhattan Project office, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Robert Krohn – physicist, Los Alamos
• Jane Wilson – writer, wife of Robert Wilson
• Jon Else – filmmaker, interviewer
• Holm Bursom – rancher, Socorro, New Mexico
• Dave MacDonald – rancher, Socorro, New Mexico
• Susan Evans – resident, New Mexico
• Elizabeth Ingram – merchant, San Antonio, New Mexico

Interviewees in archival film

• J. Robert Oppenheimer
• General Leslie Groves
• President Harry Truman
• Senator Joseph McCarthy

Home media

The Day After Trinity was released on VHS cassette by Pyramid Home Video, and on Region 1 DVD by Image Entertainment. A CD-ROM that was released in 1995 included interviews, transcripts, annotations, biographies, and other information.

In July 2023, after the release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, the Criterion Channel streamed The Day After Trinity for free; it was one of the service's most-streamed films during that time. It is also available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.

Reviews

Awards

The Day After Trinity was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of 1980, and received a Peabody Award in 1981. The film also won a CINE Golden Eagle Award.

References

References

1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUg1J1owor8 Documentary Winners: 1981 Oscars]
2. (27 July 2023). "'Oppenheimer' Fans Are Rediscovering a 40-Year-Old Documentary". [[The New York Times]].
3. (July 18, 2023). "The Real History Behind Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'". Smithsonian Magazine.
4. "The Day after Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb; Part 2".
5. Annotations from transcript of ''The Day After Trinity'' produced by PTV Publications, associated with the documentary's national broadcast on PBS April 29, 1981
6. Nichols, Peter M. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/18/arts/home-video-728195.html?scp=3&sq=The Home Video], ''The New York Times'', August 18, 1995
7. (24 July 2023). "How to stream Oppenheimer documentary The Day After Trinity for free right now".
8. {{Internet Archive film. thedayaftertrinity
9. [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=980DE7DF1E38F933A15752C0A967948260 "The Day After Trinity: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (1980)"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Vincent Canby]], January 20, 1981
10. "The 53rd Academy Awards (1981) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org.
11. (April 19, 1982). "Peabody Awards announced". UPI.
12. "The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb".
13. Davis, Clare Gartrell. "C.I.N.E. Annual Awards". Film News.